


Family Ties

by Pennygirl612



Series: Family Ties [1]
Category: White Collar
Genre: Emotional Hurt, Gen, Heavy Angst, Mentions of Cancer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-06-18 10:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15483390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pennygirl612/pseuds/Pennygirl612
Summary: AU where Elizabeth shares with Neal and Mozzie that she has breast cancer.  She asks Neal for help even though she isn't sure he can give her what she wants or needs.  Because of his past, Neal questions his own ability to help Elizabeth.





	Family Ties

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own White Collar or its characters.
> 
> Story is filled with emotional pain and drama. Warnings for any who may be triggered by mentions of cancer. As I breast cancer survivor, I found it both difficult and cathartic to write this one.

Family Ties

Hearing the knock at the door, Neal and Mozzie exchanged looks. Neal shook his head indicating he hadn’t been expecting anyone. Scrabbling, Mozzie rolled up the museum blueprints, shoving the cardboard container under the sink while Neal tossed various tools into a black leather bag. There was a second more emphatic knock as Neal slid the bag under his bed and out of sight. With one last look around, Neal answered the door surprised to find Elizabeth standing there.

“Elizabeth,” Neal said, flashing a smile at her as she crossed the threshold.

Narrowing her eyes, Elizabeth took in the scene before her. While not the equal of her husband at reading Neal, she still knew when something wasn’t quite right. Neal’s smile was a little too big, his eyes just a little too bright to be genuine and spying Mozzie at the kitchen table attempting to look nonchalant as he sipped on a glass of wine sealed the deal for her. They had been up to something. Inwardly she sighed. This was what she was afraid of; even more than the news she had just received. It was also what had compelled her to come to Neal’s apartment in the first place. Though she had been expecting him to be alone, having Mozzie present meant she would only have to make her speech once.

Neal observed several emotions flicker across Elizabeth’s face as she strolled around his apartment. Obviously this was not a social call. The air was thick with tension and the presence of a heavy gloom left both men feeling severely uneasy. It was something neither had experienced before in Elizabeth’s company. The feeling of dread became so strong that Mozzie quickly drained the remainder of his wine and stood to leave. Blue eyes froze him and a command to sit quickly had Mozzie returning to his seat.

“You need to hear this too,” she informed him after taking a breath to calm herself. She already felt like she was losing control of her emotions. She had to get a grip if she was going to make it through what she had come here to say. 

Neal felt a chill run through him. Whatever she was about to say, it was bad. Observing the tension in the way she held herself, the clipped tone she spoke in, Neal knew something was seriously wrong. Tamping down his fear and his own growing desire to escape the room, Neal forced his nervous hands into the front pockets of his pants.

“Elizabeth is there something wrong?” Neal finally asked her.

Elizabeth observed both men, seeing signs of their anxiety. Neal, hands shoved in his pockets, rocked back and forth while Mozzie idly twirled the empty wine glass around in his hands. Neither man could quite bring themselves to make eye contact with her.

“Yes, I’m afraid there is,” Elizabeth answered. Taking another deep breath, Elizabeth plunged forward speaking words she never dreamed she would be saying. To her own ear, her voice sounded foreign as if coming from someone else. God she wished they were coming from someone else, but knew it was just another defense mechanism her mind was using to get her through the next minute, the next hour without completely breaking down. She hadn’t with Peter and she damn sure wasn’t about to in front of Neal and Mozzie. There was too much personally at stake; too much riding on how the next few minutes went. She had come here knowing what she needed but equally uncertainly of the outcome. 

“I had a mammogram last week.” She saw both heads snap to attention, growing looks of concern on their faces. She forced herself not to look too closely, knowing she could falter at any moment. Squaring her shoulders, she managed to continue, her voice eerily void of any emotion. “It showed a small cyst in my right breast. I had a biopsy and found out today it was positive. I have breast cancer,” she announced. Mentally she congratulated herself on making it through. Still, she didn’t quite dare meet the eyes now focused fully on her so afraid to find pity housed there. She thinks she could handle any other reaction: fear, anger, even denial but not pity. 

Neal felt his legs nearly go out from under him. Elizabeth had cancer which meant Elizabeth could… Neal cut that thought off, locking it away. He moved towards her but she held up her hand to keep him where he stood.

“The bad news is my type of cancer is aggressive. It can spread quickly if left untreated with the ultimate results being...” Elizabeth’s voice trailed off. For a moment, she thought about what she was saying, what could happen, how she could… 

Blinking back tears she refused to let fall, Elizabeth cleared her throat before resuming, “The good news is it’s one of the most common types. There are effective treatments when caught early: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation. I’ll know more when I meet with the breast surgeon Monday morning.”

For a long moment, the room was silent. No one spoke. Mozzie, head down, stared at his wine glass feeling betrayed at its emptiness. Now of all moments, he really needed the substance to fortify him. Risking a glance at Neal, he saw his friend wasn’t holding up any better. The conman mask has slipped down to cover his emotions but Mozzie could still read his friend like a book. He was scared and already emotionally had one foot out the door. 

After another moment, it was Neal who broke the silence. “Elizabeth, I don’t know what to say.” It was the truth. For once the great Neal Caffrey was at a complete loss of words. And he was scared; really, really scared. Life had dealt him losses: his mother, Ellen, Kate, Rebecca. But this was Elizabeth; sweet, innocent, Elizabeth. She was the woman who had welcomed him into her home and her family; a woman who at times had been his conscious yet strong enough never to lay judgement when he strayed from the right side of things. 

Elizabeth gave a sad smile recognizing what Neal was feeling and attempted to reassure him. “It’s okay to be scared Neal. I’m scared too. It’s why I’m here. It’s why I had to tell you.”

“Elizabeth,” Neal whispered, shaking his head. He didn’t want to hear what she was saying or think about what she was trying to tell him. Reminded again of Ellen, Kate and Rebecca, their losses had been sudden and unexpected. He hadn’t had a chance to even say goodbye, but nor did he have a chance to dwell on losing them before they were gone. If he lost Elizabeth it would be so very different. This loss would be drawn out, cruelly taking a small piece of Elizabeth away bit by bit, piece by piece until there was nothing left but a shell of the wonderful woman she had been. Neal felt himself start to shake. He didn’t mean to and he cursed himself for not being strong enough to stand there and not show his fear. He was the conman not her. Yet she was the one appearing so calm in the light of what she was going to have to fight against. 

“You’ve become family.” She looked first at Neal and then included Mozzie in her gaze. “Peter’s going to need you both if he’s going to make it through this.”

“Elizabeth, no,” Neal said his voice imploring her to stop. Mozzie couldn’t even manage to say that much, a lump clogging up his throat.

“Neal, I know you don’t want to hear this. Do you think I want to be here right now? Having this conversation with you?! The truth is I don’t know how this is going to turn out. I just know that if I’m going to make it, I have to focus on me and doing everything I can to fight this. And I’m going to need Peter; all of him! Neal, he can’t be worrying about me and worrying about you doing something stupid at the same time. I don’t know what you and Mozzie were planning before I arrived, but it stops now.”

Automatically, Mozzie started to deny they were up to anything. With glares from both Elizabeth and Neal, Mozzie closed his mouth. After a pause, Mozzie captured Elizabeth’s eyes. “Okay,” he stated simply.

“Okay? No hijinks? Nothing that’s going to land either of you in jail?” Elizabeth asked, feeling the need to clarify. She didn’t want there to be any misunderstandings. It was too important to her. She needed to know they understood the risks and the costs involved, and that it wasn’t just about them anymore.

“You have my word,” Mozzie instantly confirmed, his voice a bit more gruff than usual as he tried to bit back his own fear and sorrow.

Elizabeth nodded; satisfied he meant what he said. Focusing back on Neal, she took a deep breath. That had been the easy part. Now for the harder promise.

“So there’s something else I need,” Elizabeth said softly.

“Anything,” Neal responded, his eyes brightening at the thought that there was something he could do to help.

“I need you to promise me you won’t run. No matter how hard it gets, no matter how this turns out. Promise me that you will be there for Peter every step of the way. If you can’t then…” her voice trailed off.

“Then?” Neal barely choked out.

Elizabeth started to speak and then swallowed back the lump in her throat. She needed to say this as much as she needed Neal to hear it. Not trusting what his response was going to be, Elizabeth looked down and away from Neal as she spoke, her voice little more than a whisper. “Then leave now. Cut your anklet and run while Peter and I are both strong enough to handle it. If you wait until later, when maybe things aren’t going so well and you run because you’re scared—“

Agonized by her words, Neal interrupted, “I wouldn’t—“ 

Elizabeth’s eyes locked with his. She knew he wanted to believe that, but his history told another story. Calmly, she reminded him of the truth. “Neal, you would. It’s what you do. Sweetie, it’s what you have always done.”

Neal thought back to when he was eighteen and Ellen had told him about his father. Elizabeth was right. When things got rough, he ran. Meeting her eyes, Neal shrugged. “I’ve changed.”

“Have you?” Elizabeth asked him. “I want to believe that. I want to be able to count on you.”

Under his breath, Neal muttered the words Peter had once told him: You can either be a con or a man. It was time Neal made that decision. Seeing the fear in Elizabeth’s face as she tried so hard to keep herself together, Neal recognized it was time for him to cowboy up as Peter would say. 

“Elizabeth, I will not run,” he promised, blue eyes meeting blue eyes, both rimming more and more red as tears threatened to fall.

“What if-“

Neal blinked back tears even as his body shook, “Even then. I promise you. I will not run.”

Elizabeth blinked back her own tears as relief flooded through her. Neal had given her what she wanted. Whether it was the truth or if he could live up to those words, only time would tell. For now, she would just have to trust him. Walking to the door, she stopped and turned back.

“Thank you. Thank you both.”

The second the door closed, Neal moved to the cupboard and poured two glasses of whiskey, neat. Downing his first glass in one gulp, he poured a second and carried both glasses back to the table. Sitting across from Mozzie he took a slow swallow, allowing the burn to help settle nerves threatening to shatter him. He watched as Mozzie did the same.

“Moz,” Neal started.

“I meant what I told Elizabeth,” Mozzie immediately assured him. 

Neal exhaled a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. “Thank you.”

“Did you?” Mozzie boldly asked. “Running is what you do.”

Cringing on the inside knowing they were right, Neal closed his eyes. A wave of nausea flooded through him. Running was all he knew how to do. It came so natural to him, but all one had to do was look at his parentage to see why, he thought bitterly. His mom had ran from her problems by withdrawing inward, escaping reality and leaving little Neal to fend for himself. His father—hell—it was all his father had ever done. First running away from his family when Neal was only three and then running again when he shot Senator Pratt. He wasn’t man enough to take responsibility for his actions instead leaving Peter to take the fall. Peter…

The thought of Peter forced Neal to return to the present. Elizabeth was his entire world. As upset as Neal was at the news, he couldn’t imagine the pain Peter was going through. Peter was the one person who believed in him from the start; the one person who had always been there for him through Kate, Ellen, his father, Rebecca; and the one person who had never abandoned him. And Neal knew Peter wouldn’t abandon his wife, either. He would be strong enough to walk any journey with her. 

Neal shook his head. He was not his father. He was not that weak and cowardly. And, maybe he wasn’t Peter either. Maybe he would never be that strong and self-assured about his place in the world. But for this moment at least, he could be the man who didn’t run out on his friends. Unlike what he did with Ellen, or Alex in Copenhagen, or like his father, Neal would stay and prove it—even if only to prove to himself that he could be that man. 

Fiery blue eyes opened and zeroed in on Mozzie. “No more running.” Neal paused and took another drink, clearly stalling. He wanted to ask Mozzie to stay but couldn’t quite bring himself to risk the rejection and what it would mean. Instead he gave his friend an out. “But you don’t have to stay, Moz. I know this isn’t what you signed up for.”

Mozzie shot a look at Neal that clearly said he was a complete ass if he thought Mozzie was going to abandon him now. “So what’s the plan?” Mozzie asked instead. “Start with a full background on the surgeon?”

Neal gave him a grateful smile before shaking his head. “Peter will be all over that.”

“Right,” Mozzie agreed. “If we’re going to stay in the loop, we’ll need to identify the doctor and bug all the exam rooms and offices. Audio should be sufficient, don’t you think?”

Neal took another sip of the whiskey. “Do you think Elizabeth was serious? About us being part of their family?”

“Yeah, I do.” 

Neal looked at Mozzie with a wry smile. “Then maybe there’s another way…”

Monday morning, Elizabeth and Peter stepped out of the car at the medical center. Walking hand in hand, they made their way across the parking lot spying a familiar duo waiting for them at the entrance. 

Peter arched an eyebrow, “Do I even want to know how you knew where we would be?”

Neal shrugged and gave a sheepish grin. He wasn’t about to tell Peter how Mozzie had called and asked Sally to hack into the New York medical database. “Plausible deniability?”

Elizabeth squeezed Peter’s hand and silently, they exchanged a look. “Well I guess since you are here you might as well come in with us,” Peter said.

“Really?” Neal asked eagerly looking from Peter then to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth smiled, “Family, remember?”

Neal nodded. “Family.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thoughts and comments are welcome. If there's interest, I will continue the story line further.


End file.
